


These Dog Days (Are Over)

by cottoncandyboys (mik0rin)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 18:52:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13370982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mik0rin/pseuds/cottoncandyboys
Summary: Never had Chanyeol regretted playing with something he found on the ground so much - but it ended up being quite the experience.





	These Dog Days (Are Over)

**Author's Note:**

> the title is actually taken from the anime called dog days but kind of influenced by florence + the machine's song (which is awesome btw so give it a listen), oh and no actual relation to harry potter or anything, although i used some references from fantastic beasts and where to find them. this fic has too much dialogue and it is just a mess lol
> 
> written for the chanyeol exchange some years ago and in which i forgot this existed until i was looking through my drive folders

It was no surprise to anyone that Park Chanyeol was a very curious and playful young man. So curious that whenever he found something slightly different when he went out for his morning walks at the park, he would crouch down and take it in hands, examining to see what it was. And the playful part came in action when he noticed it could be used for something else, if it was just a twig he would throw to Billy, the local dog, and play with the animal until both got tired or bored; if it was a pretty leaf, he would let it dry and use it as bookmark - Chanyeol actually had a leaf collection resting somewhere in his apartment.

Although, often times Chanyeol came back home bruised or just looking weird - maybe it was only a Chanyeol thing, but worrisome nevertheless -, he'd say to whoever asked him that he got out of his way following a butterfly and ended up falling down a hill as if it was the most common thing ever. It didn't really seem concerning to Chanyeol, it really wasn't like he was in danger after all.

On one super normal day, when Chanyeol was clearly on one of his walks, not yet at the park but almost there, he saw a mass of people crowding a spot. He watched the commotion curiously, wondering what was going on.

"Excuse me, sir," he tapped someone on the shoulder. "What happened here?"

The man wearing a long crimson cloak turned to him and stared into his eyes. " _Death_."

That was probably the last thing he had imagined he'd get as response. "Thanks."

After thanking the stranger, Chanyeol kept on walking. He knew very well were he should stick his nose or not, if it involved death, he should get away from that place, fast.

The familiar gates came in sight, the silent welcoming to the park was something he was really used to. This time, Chanyeol decided to not go around the place, but instead, he was going to sit down on the grass and enjoy the autumn landscape. Chanyeol was quick to forget what had happened not long ago, too engrossed in observing the nature.

His hands touched a long piece of wood that he did not notice was there when he arrived. Chanyeol took it in hands and stared at the object, interested. It really didn't look like just a twig like the ones he often found - it was polished? He bent it a little but it did not break or anything. _Weird_ , it was too thin to be that strong.

For some reason, it slipped from Chanyeol's hands and instead of falling down, it went up and hit him in the head.

Nothing really happened.

The day ended up being boring, aside from the weird stranger he met earlier, so Chanyeol concluded that he should just go home because he had this painting he needed to finish for the next month.

 

 

 

 

 

"Chanyeol," he heard when he arrived on his floor. It was Kyungsoo, his neighbor, knocking on his door unceasingly. "Chanyeol, are you there?"

"I'm here," he said as he neared his apartment entrance.

"Shooooo," said Kyungsoo while waving a hand at him and Chanyeol noticed that his friend looked way taller than the normal. "Get out."

"What the hell, Kyungsoo," Chanyeol said but once he paid attention to his own voice, he didn't hear it at all. "What's happening?"

He wasn't speaking but barking instead.

"Who let you in?" Kyungsoo asked, rhetorically, not exactly expecting an answer but Chanyeol, who was apparently a dog, used his paw to point at himself and Kyungsoo glared at him, trying to understand what was going on. "Why is this animal wearing human clothes?"

Just for a moment, Kyungsoo stopped trying to make Chanyeol the dog leave the building and held his gaze on him. Chanyeol felt a little naked even if he was wearing clothes, they weren't made for him to wear them in _that_ state.

"Jesus Christ, I can't believe this," Kyungsoo finally managed to say something after what felt like eternity. "What the fuck, Chanyeol."

Oh, so he recognized Chanyeol? He barked in response, getting used to it already.

"My question is _how_?" he sounded angry and Chanyeol really wondered how he knew it was him. "As if you could answer me right now, what am I even doing?"

Kyungsoo shook his head and, before Chanyeol could try to retrieve his keys from a pocket, Kyungsoo opened the door to his own apartment right next to his and ushered him to enter the place.

"You stay there," he warned. "Do not touch anything, do not knock anything down. I'll be right back."

And Kyungsoo entered the room at the end of the short corridor and Chanyeol was left in the living room, debating whether he should sit down on the couch or not, the image of Kyungsoo flipping it once he saw him sat there came to mind and he simply settled to being on the floor.

"Baekhyun will be here soon," Kyungsoo was already back - talking as if Chanyeol was familiar with this Baekhyun -, holding a cell phone in hands and sitting down, a sigh going past his lips as he closed his eyes and leaned against his couch.

Soon for Chanyeol was in about an hour, but apparently this Baekhyun's soon was seconds after Kyungsoo had called him. He just suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, on top of the coffee table.

"You could've used the door, couldn't you?" in Chanyeol's opinion, Kyungsoo looked used to that kind of entrance - way too used -, but he wasn't and ended up whimpering in surprise.

"I just wanted to cause an impact in the No-Maj you mentioned," Baekhyun said, he looked utterly amused while Kyungsoo was the opposite. "Where is he by the way?"

"I'm here," Chanyeol said, assuming he was the No-Maj, but it was only a bark that left his canine mouth.

The newcomer jumped from the table and squatted to Chanyeol's current eye level. "I see."

A twig was taken out from inside his fashionable dark magenta robes, maybe an inside pocket, and Chanyeol's eyes followed it, recognition crossing his mind once he saw it. He barked.

It was quickly pointed at his face and Kyungsoo didn't look alarmed, so Chanyeol stayed still even though he just wanted to run away from that place - or eat the twig, but then he remembered his situation and why he was like that. "What was it again?" said Baekhyun, hand on his chin and tongue poking at the corner of his lips, a thoughtful expression adorning his small face.

"Don't give me that shit, Baek," Kyungsoo finally spoke up, taking the twig from his friend's hand and hitting him with it.

"I'm sorry okay," he apologized. "And give me that back, you ain't allowed to use it, even if I'm no good as well, but at least I finished school."

"Oh shut up," Kyungsoo threw the wood object back to his friend and fell down on the couch. "Just do your work, please?"

The Baekhyun guy rolled his eyes and fixed his attention back to Chanyeol, twig pointed at his face again. His sensitive ears caught a few mumbled words coming past Baekhyun's lips and the hand that gripped the stick spun twice before it touched the top of Chanyeol's head, the dog kept his eyes closed.

"Am I back to normal?" Chanyeol said, no more barking, he could hear his own voice now. He opened his eyes but noticed that Kyungsoo and Baekhyun still looked incredibly tall compared to him and glanced down at himself.

He was still a dog.

"Well, good job, Baek," Kyungsoo clapped his hands. "Now we have a talking dog."

"Can I say something?" Baekhyun inquired while raising a finger and Chanyeol nodded, ears going up and down. "You have a really deep voice, y'know that? It caught me off guard."

 _Out!_ Kyungsoo growled, clearly out of patience with his friend. "I just got here, dammit. You never call me to hang out anymore."

The sound of the door shutting closed was loud, Kyungsoo sighed once again and turned back to his neighbor, ready to apologize.

While Kyungsoo forced Baekhyun to leave, Chanyeol had felt behind his ear itching and he tried to scratch it with his front paws. It didn't work, so he started to rub his head against the couch and when Kyungsoo had his eyes on him, he could see fire in them.

"Chanyeol!" he said through gritted teeth, striding toward him with heavy steps, before Kyungsoo could do anything, Chanyeol sprinted to the opposite side, dodging the boy. "Oh my God, don't do that. You're going to break something."

But as soon as those words left his mouth, it was already late, Chanyeol had bumped against the furniture and dropped a vase. Full of water and flowers., porcelain flew around as well. He was a dog with wet clothes now and he stared at Kyungsoo with puppy eyes.

"Forget it," Kyungsoo announced after raising his hand to his temple and letting a long drawn out sigh, Chanyeol felt extremely bad because his neighbor looked like he was suffering. "Do you mind being a dog for a day? At least you're a talking dog."

The laugh he let out was weak and Chanyeol nodded his head, his not long ears hitting him in the eye and Kyungsoo's laughter turned soft. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked his neighbor and wondered what had taken place a few minutes ago, who was Baekhyun and why was Kyungsoo so used to what had happened. "Hey, what kind of dog am I?

Kyungsoo let out a snort, Chanyeol didn't understand what was so funny.

"You're a golden retriever," Chanyeol looked down at his fur and saw the caramel color, that made sense. "Now, I think you should take your clothes off or you'll get sick, they're quite wet."

Chanyeol took a step back and hit the same furniture again, dropping a picture frame, thanking the heavens he didn't step on the broken glass.

"I'm sorry?" he said and Kyungsoo just closed his eyes.

"Why did you do that for?" asked Kyungsoo and Chanyeol eyed him warily.

A little nervous, as much as a dog could look like, Chanyeol gave Kyungsoo five seconds of silence before he answered. "You asked me to take my clothes off."

The sudden realization of how those words sounded to Chanyeol hit Kyungsoo and he groaned. "You're a dog, Chanyeol. Don't be childish."

"You're asking to see me naked."

"I'd rather ask you to clean this mess you just made," he then got up, entering the kitchen and coming back soon with a broom and dustpan, a cardbox under his arm so he'd have a place to put the glass without hurting whoever was going to collect the garbage. "Don't move please. I don't want to pay an impromptu visit to the vet because you stepped on a shard."

A canine muffled sound of protest came from Chanyeol's closed mouth but Kyungsoo ignored it, more focused on leaving the floor safe for everyone. Once he was done, he came back to his previous position, a thoughtful expression still etched on his facial features.

"Hey, Kyungsoo?" Chanyeol asked. "Who was that earlier?"

Sighing was apparently one of Kyungsoo's habits, he hadn't coexisted with him for long periods of time to know that, and the boy kept his eyes closed as he spoke. "Baekhyun is my friend back from when I was in school."

"Did he learn how to make dogs talk at school?" Chanyeol's voice had curiosity in it and Kyungsoo fixed his sitting position and stared ahead. "Did you learn it too?"

"You can say that I would have," he explained, elbows resting on top of his knees and hands intertwined in front of his face. "If I hadn't dropped out to be a writer."

"How are both related?" questioned Chanyeol, head tilted. "You could've graduated and still be a pretty decent writer."

Kyungsoo chuckled and Chanyeol tilted his head some more, trying to understand what was so funny.

"I am a pretty decent writer, thank you very much," Kyungsoo faked hurt. "But they didn't like how I wanted to write about No-Majs. They had expectations that I'd write about us, for us."

Once Kyungsoo eyed his neighbor again, Chanyeol was resting on the floor, head on top of his big fluffy paws.

"So you got expelled for wanting to write about normal human beings?"

"Nah, I set one classroom on fire," Kyungsoo said casually, catching Chanyeol off guard, not expecting that at all. "No casualties, but I burned down the principal's office alongside and even if they can do magic, retrieving something that doesn't exist anymore is quite difficult and requires a lot of power. Therefore we lost millennia of scholar files."

"But why?" Chanyeol was curious, rolling his body from side to side, tongue hanging to the side of his mouth.

"We don't talk about that," the boy got up from the couch and dusted the front of his jeans. "Anyway, I'm sorry but you'll have to be a dog until tomorrow, I don't know how to do magic."

Dog Chanyeol huffed, tongue still rolling out of his mouth, a sign of a very happy dog. "It's okay, it's not all that bad being a dog."

 

 

 

 

 

"Thanks for letting me stay over," Chanyeol walked right beside Kyungsoo, he finally gave in on taking his clothes off - he did it yesterday when it started feeling uncomfortable to have a bunch of wet clothes sticking to your fur - and of course it'd look weird if a dog wore human garments. "Where are we going?"

His neighbor said nothing, motioning with a hand instead, telling him to follow into a place he had never seen before even if he passed by that street quite often. Before Chanyeol could ask Kyungsoo one more time where they were, he tapped on the counter and waited.

Nobody thought it was strange that a dog was inside the pub - it was better that way, Chanyeol wouldn't need to explain himself, if he was allowed to, he was a dog and dogs shouldn't speak.

"Hey, Soo, what a surprise to have you here!" said the man behind the counter, delight in his voice and a thick accent deeply engraved in it. "Where have you been?'

"Places," he answered, taking a seat. "Nowhere, Yixing. You know I'm married to my manuscripts."

"You could've visited," Chanyeol looked from Kyungsoo to the man he was talking to and then back to Kyungsoo. Yixing looked like a friendly pal, his smile was gentle just like his voice. "Who's your friend over there?"

"Hi, I'm Chanyeol," he said, front paws supporting him up on the counter, Yixing smiled at him.

"I need your help," Kyungsoo almost pleaded. "Baekhyun was no help at all."

Yixing then laughed, looking as if Kyungsoo had said something funny. "Were you really expecting to get some positive results with Baekhyun's aid? You're naive, Soo. Baekhyun might do magic but he's just an antique dealer of a run down store."

"He used to be okay at magic when we were at school," Kyungsoo protested, trying to convince not only Yixing, but himself as well.

"That was like, years ago," they bickered over Baekhyun's magical abilities until both agreed that they were going nowhere and they were just wasting time. "What kind of help do you need?"

"You see," started Kyungsoo, finally remembering Chanyeol was also there. "Chanyeol is not actually a dog.

Yixing nodded, taking in the information and fishing for something inside his coat. He took out a stick, and Chanyeol was well aware by now that it was a wand. If they did magic, it wouldn't just be a random piece of wood they carried around. "You just need me to transform him into a human again?"

"Is there anything you want in exchange?"

But Yixing didn't answer Kyungsoo, he shook his wand a few times and softly touched the top of Chanyeol's head. "I'm glad I've fixed this kind of thing before, you don't have to go through the embarrassment of standing stark naked in the middle of my pub."

The tall male noticed Yixing was talking to him and smiled, thankful for the consideration. "Thank God, I don't think I'd be able to overcome it. Thank you, really," Chanyeol took Yixing's hands into his and shook them fervently. "I will miss being a dog though, it was fun."

"It wasn't fun, Chanyeol," Kyungsoo said from the side. "Thank you, Yixing, we gotta go now, I have this thing I need to finish."

"Your orders, sir," Yixing waved at him, reaching out for a cloth to wipe at the counter where someone had just left. "Take care on your way, they caught the culprit but you gotta be careful."

"Yeah, yeah," a dismissive hand shooed the subject away, but Kyungsoo was concerned, Chanyeol could notice that by the way his eyebrows creased and his lips were suddenly pressed into a thin, straight line. "We'll be careful."

Chanyeol thanked Yixing one last time before turning away and chasing after Kyungsoo towards the exit.

"Pass by more often," Yixing yelled before they left the place. "Both of you. That's what I want in exchange."

 

 

 

 

 

"I can't believe I was a dog," Chanyeol sighed. "It's finally looking real now that I'm not one anymore."

"That's great, Chanyeol, at least you're not traumatized."

They walked in silence, until a question came up to Chanyeol, "Hey, what was Yixing talking about? Someone was arrested?"

"Ah that's exactly what I wanted to tell you yesterday before you came home on four legs," Kyungsoo answered. "I heard on the news that someone was murdered near the park and I remembered you're always going there and I was worried you'd get involved with it."

"How?"

"It involved magic and you're curious as hell," that made sense, most people that were there at were Chanyeol assumed was the crime scene were wearing similar clothes to the ones Baekhyun and most people inside Yixing's pub wore. "And it's dangerous, magic is not supposed to be used for evil but some people just do it."

"I see," he nodded at Kyungsoo's explanation. "Were you worried about me then?"

"Chanyeol, stop stating the obvious, I just said that," complained Kyungsoo, pushing the gate of the apartment complex entrance and cursing at whoever left it open. "Then when someone is robbed, I don't want to hear complaints."

"Thanks," Chanyeol said, closing the gate behind him and pressing the password to open the front door of their building. "For helping me out."

If Chanyeol saw Kyungsoo rolling his eyes at him, he didn't point it out. "It was not your responsibility and yet you assisted me on getting back to normal."

"It's okay, Chanyeol, please stop," Kyungsoo groaned, a hand rubbing at his forehead. "It's giving me a headache."

"You don't like being complimented on your goodness?" They had finally reached their floor, Chanyeol searched on the pocket of the pants Yixing had given him but then he remembered he left it inside Kyungsoo's apartment. "Can you get me my bunch of keys that are in the pocket of those jeans resting on one of your chairs?"

Again, Kyungsoo didn't give him an answer and just opened the door, urging him forward and throwing the now dry clothes at Chanyeol. "There you go. Now I would advise going to your own apartment. We had quite an eventful day, didn't we?"

"You're right," Chanyeol whispered, eyes growing wild. "I have to finish a painting."

Yes, it was only due next month but truth be told, Chanyeol barely started on it, he didn't even have the slight idea of what he was going to paint. They gave him freedom and just asked for something _genuine, from the bottom of your heart_ , but he wasn't sure of what that meant.

"See you around." Kyungsoo yelled when Chanyeol passed by the door and closed it with a low tud.

 

 

 

 

 

The very next day, Chanyeol was knocking on Kyungsoo's door.

"What do you want, Chanyeol?" Kyungsoo asked when he saw him. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"So," Chanyeol started. "Remember I mentioned a painting yesterday?"

There was an unimpressed look on Kyungsoo's face but it still told Chanyeol to just go on.

"I got a little caught up on it and finished in one go," Chanyeol said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "But it's not something I want to sell, but I also don't want to keep it because there's no space to hang it in my apartment, so I was wondering if you'd accept it."

He then took out a frame from inside his apartment, that was apparently with the door opened and he let the painting rest against it.

"That's funny," Kyungsoo said, taking a quick glimpse at the colorful illustration. "I started on my book last night," he examined the painting closer and Chanyeol held it out for easier viewing. "Would you mind if I used your art for the cover?"

"Does it match your story?" he inquired, half of his face covered by the frame but still able to see the shorter male.

"It does," Kyungsoo spoke. "Perfectly."

Chanyeol blew a raspberry, nodding his head absent minded. "What is it about?"

"Some boy whose neighbor is transformed into a dog and their adventures."

They laughed.

"I bet it'll be a bestseller." Chanyeol smiled and handed the painting to Kyungsoo.

**Author's Note:**

> i tried including how the wand that transformed chanyeol into a dog ended up there but the story gave me no chance to bring it up, so i'd say that, after the person was killed near the park, their wand went there, don't ask me how, it just did. and i hope it was easy to guess that chanyeol painted kyungsoo and himself as a dog. 
> 
> and since baekhyun is apparently a bad wizard, he didn't think about erasing chanyeol's memories as well as yixing but for different reasons, maybe yixing thought it wasn't a problem.
> 
> kudos if you've made it this far;;


End file.
